Saturday, February 27, 2010

Billy Lyve - Sleep When I'm Dead Part 1 (Wisdom Court Entertainment)

I don't think I'd ever really heard Billy Lyve before getting sent this mixtape, and it's pretty short, only 26 minutes long, but I always say that a short introduction is better than one that goes on way too long, as far as new artists go. I know he and his label do a lot of shows at Sonar (including one last year with a flyer that kind of pissed me off), but I'm not sure I've seen him perform. Anyway, this is pretty decent, although I kinda feel like he's not bringing a lot of energy or personality in his voice and delivery and that kinda hurts his music -- ironically, he's not very live. But towards the end he gets more personal and you get a better sense of who he is, and the last couple tracks are about his baby son and about I think an estranged brother or friend, and I dig that he's really putting that kind of specific real life shit into his music. You can download this at allbmorehiphop.com/billylyve.

Billy Lyve - "Anotha Day" (mp3)Kinda cracks me up how one song is all "bring it back, that east coast rap" and then a couple tracks later the best song on the record has a Jeezy sample.